jedimaster1227

^I'll be very curious to see what they do with Dolphin Plunge once the Commerson's Dolphins are no longer at the park, as SeaWorld has already confirmed that they will not breed or seek to replace them once they have reached the end of their lifespan.

https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2018/03/8-things-you-need-to-know-about-this-years-star-wars-galactic-nights/

https://blog.universalorlando.com/visiting-us/dates-and-ticket-offer-hhn2018/

The Universal Orlando Resort has shared a new look at their first ever rooftop bar and grill debuting at Universal's Aventura Hotel!

Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi has sent us a press release announcing two new themed areas set to debut when the park opens this Summer!

A few weeks ago I had the chance to visit Aquatica Orlando for the first time in a while... This is absolutely my favorite water park in Central Florida and has been for many years (note, I've not been to Volcano Bay yet) and I've been happy to see the park continually grow with new additions since it first opened. With the random cold of a Florida weekend, we had already planned to visit the park but figured we'd brave the cold air in the name of low crowds and thus, short waits for the park's best slides... It turns out, it wasn't just a slow day, but a near-empty day, allowing us to ride all but one slide in the park twice in the first two hours of the park being open! Time for a quick visit to Aquatica! HooRoo Run was removed to make way for the new Ray Rush slide, but Walhalla Wave has been temporarily closed while the new slide is constructed. I always love seeing the Dolphin Plunge tower at the entrance of the park! It was definitely neat to see a Shark Tank product available for use inside of the park! Dolphin Plunge is such a picturesque attraction! Tassie's Twisters is accessible via Loggerhead Lane. Banana Beach Cook-Out is one of the park's main eateries, and this one allows for an all-you-care-to-enjoy dining experience! New since my last visit was the addition of a Passholder Pavilion, which is something I'll definitely take advantage of in future visits! Looking towards the new Ray Rush slide. The entrance to Walhalla Wave and Ray Rush will be behind this wall. Another neat addition to the park since my last visit is the option to purchase a "Big Squirt" toy... With your "Big Squirt" you can shoot targets on this board with water, which when hit will trigger water jets to shoot back at you. Lots of different elements to see for Ray Rush. There's a magnetic launch section of the slide! Walkabout Waters has multiple tipping splash buckets and little slides for the younger guests and their families to enjoy. Taumata Racer is the park's most colorful attraction, and the only one that uses a mat-racer style experience. Omaka Rocka, the park's first addition can be seen from across the park. Ihu's Breakaway Falls was the park's most recent addition... And one that I got to experience in a memorable way. A look back on my first time experiencing Ihu's Breakaway Falls back in 2014... A closer look at Omaka Rocka and Whanau Way. The park recently celebrated its tenth anniversary with this special sand sculpture. Some new 10th anniversary merchandise available in the park. Even more! The Commerson's dolphins are the key element of Dolphin Plunge and they are incredible to watch from the viewing area. I truly believe that Dolphin Plunge is one of SeaWorld's best design achievements in their company history. I find myself spending a lot of time just watching it from the outside when I visit the park. Loggerhead Lane, so aptly named. One last stare at Dolphin Plunge. The entrance is so unique... Still one of my favorite places in Orlando when it comes to theme parks. Since we were in the neighborhood, we stopped by Seaworld to get a bite at the Seven Seas Food Festival! It was a beautiful day in the park! Mako has comfortably joined the park's wonderful Waterfront skyline. The park's false killer whales previously found home in the Whale & Dolphin Theater (where Dolphin Days is shown) have moved in to Shamu Stadium. The Bananas Foster Cheesecake Cone is an incredible winner on the Seven Seas Food Festival menu! The Sea Scallops Provençal served with Wild Mushroom Risotto is my second favorite dish of the event... My first being the Conch Fritters... I used to have these exact conch fritters from Captain Pete's Island Eats back when the Key West section of the park first opened. They were served for many years (and were a family favorite when we'd visit) but were phased out as guests showed less interest in such fare and the menu shifted to focus on hot dogs instead. It is truly wonderful to see these back on the menu at SeaWorld, even if only for a brief period of time! We don't often visit SeaWorld without stopping by Pacific Point Preserve. We found a new favorite sea lion! Manta is still one of the best coasters in Florida after all these years!

https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2018/03/disneyland-after-dark-event-series-continues-may-3-with-star-wars-nite/

The new Pirates of the Caribbean auction scene has officially debuted! https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2018/03/pirates-of-the-caribbean-at-walt-disney-world-resort-reopens-march-19-with-new-auction-scene/

Central Park Fun-Land has sent us a press release about their newest addition, the Hologate Virtual Reality experience!

https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2018/03/avengers-and-other-super-heroes-to-assemble-in-new-themed-areas-at-disneyland-resort-disneyland-paris-and-hong-kong-disneyland/

Disney Cruise Line sent us a press release showing off the first rendering of the design of the three new ships joining the fleet in the next few years!

Morimoto Asia has sent us a notice that the Sakura Festival is running through April 15th, 2018!

Fantasy Island has sent us a press release announcing the addition of a new children's area along with several other changes in the park!

Linnanmäki has sent us their official press release announcing Taiga, their new Intamin launch coaster!

Six Flags Magic Mountain has sent us a press release announcing the debut of DC SUPER HEROES Drop of Doom VR, which will soft open tomorrow starting at noon with its official opening on Monday!

^During our recent trip we bought a few attraction-specific magnets from the associated gift shop, but for the more generic merchandise (Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea-branded merchandise) we bought much of ours at the shops at each of the parks' main entrance plazas (like inside of the World Bazaar)... There's also a goldmine of additional merchandise at Bon Voyage, the store outside of the entrance of Tokyo Disneyland, which doesn't require you to enter the park to visit.

Tonight TPR was invited to visit Raglan Road at Disney Springs to experience a preview of this weekend's Mighty St. Patrick's Festival! This event features a variety of musical artists including The Maguires, a four-piece traditional Irish music family band from Wicklow, Ireland. With a broad menu of Irish favorites and a series of exclusive beers on tap from Crooked Can Brewery, Raglan Road's Mighty St. Patrick's Festival will be well worth your visit! For those that have never been, Raglan Road is Disney Springs wonderful Irish pub that includes authentic food, a fantastic drink selection and excellent entertainment for all ages. The venue has recently been upgraded a new video wall, a new show on the main stage and some new menu items; all fantastic updates for an already wonderful location! Tonight we visited Raglan Road Pub for a sneak preview of the Mighty St. Patrick's Festival offerings! The new Crooked Can Brewery “King of Shoals” IPA is joining the beer lineup on tap served at Raglan Road Pub! Some info about the "King of Shoals" Raglan Road-exclusive IPA brewed by Crooked Can. Sampling some of the delicious food options at Raglan Road! A taste of the "Rack of Heaven," the restaurant's signature slow roasted Guinness-glazed baby back ribs. The Salmon Swoon is an Irish smoked salmon served on Irish soda bread... Delicious! We had a chance to meet with the owners of Raglan Road to talk about the weekend's events. We got a miniature version of Raglan Road's famous fish and chips and it was fantastic! The Tri Wishes Grand Irish Red Ale is another Raglan Road signature brew from Crooked Can and it is wonderful! We also had a taste of the house Shepherd's Pie, a classic taste for a classic dish,. The Maguires are among the featured performers at Raglan Road Pub at Disney Springs during the Raglan Road Mighty St. Patrick’s Festival this weekend! [twitter] [/twitter] We had a taste of the Gnocchi Sea Gnocchi Do, one of my favorite entrees on the Raglan Road menu! The Strawberry and Cucumber Mojito and the "Chocolate Heaven" dessert were both big wins for us! The Apple Crumble was among the best I've ever had. It wouldn’t be a visit to Raglan Road without a taste of their signature bread & butter pudding! There's no better place to see authentic Irish step-dancing in Orlando than in Raglan Road Pub! Some of the movements are absolutely stunning to see in person! I can never get enough of this kind of entertainment! Different bands rotate between the inside of the restaurant and the outside patio, giving all guests a chance to experience the different acts of the evening, regardless of where they are sitting. [twitter] [/twitter] The Macquires enjoyed quite the crowd in the outside patio! Special thanks to Raglan Road for hosting us for a wonderful evening! We can't recommend visiting this wonderful place enough, and this year's Mighty St. Patrick's Festival is the perfect excuse to come by to check it out for yourself!

I give this park significant credit for taking the extra time and money required to re-track a coaster that they could have just as easily retired and replaced with something new... This isn't the kind of project you see too often, especially for a layout as simple as this one (when compared to steel retracking efforts like The Incredible Hulk Coaster at Islands of Adventure).

^^The SkyBOXes terrify me in the best way... But I think that's what I like about them. Once you step in, there's no turning back, so you can't be tempted to bail out like you can on the more traditional body slides. I think what surprised me most about these slides compared to Ihu's Breakaway Falls at Aquatica Orlando was the length of the layout after the initial drop. It allowed me to decompress after the drop and take in the simple fun of the slide... And man, was this thing smooth! The park VP explained to me that this is the third generation of this kind of slide in a SeaWorld Entertainment park and each time they had worked to better the experience--and I'd definitely say that even though Vanish Point is 10 feet shorter than Ihu's Breakaway Falls, the experience is definitely better overall thanks to the longer slide experience and the smoother slide finishing inside to allow for a more comfortable experience.

Well that's a lot of dirt being moved! It'll be nice to see what the finished product looks like when these various projects are completed later this year!

I really appreciate this inside look into Walt Disney Imagineering! Very few get the chance to see this creative space, so I'm extremely grateful that you're able to share such incredible photos for those of us who may never be able to set foot inside their offices ourselves.

Today Theme Park Review was invited to visit Adventure Island, the water park next to Busch Gardens Tampa Bay so that we could try out the new Vanish Point slides set to open with the park tomorrow! Four years ago for the first time--my first Proslide SkyBox slide. Since that time I hadn't been back on one since, until today. The slide is about 10 feet shorter than Ihu's Breakaway Falls but wraps around an existing slide complex for a truly interwoven that makes this third new slide very unique! The slides are translucent by design and allow rides to see partially outwards as the go along. The drop cabins (Proslide SkyBOX) continue to impress with the moment after the floor has dropped out from beneath you being unparalleled. We'll have the video from my experience up shortly... Check out the photos below to get a glimpse at this excellent new attraction--I highly recommend checking it out when you're in the area! We were greeted by a few tall characters on our way in! I was told my scream was quite intense. I cannot wait to see the full video! Tons of attractions are kept in close proximity by design. Tight turns to be found! The three slides weave in and out of each other throughout the course of their respective layouts. Colossal Curl launches from the same platform as Vanish Point. For a less intense start... Vanish Point features one traditional slide without the ProSlide Tech SkyBOX or the layout wrapping around the tube lift for Colossal Curl! We were also treated to the sounds of the park's steel drum band! Vanish Point was added to a lower portion of the Colossal Curl station segment. Watchers too afraid to ride can from the entrance sign to see the expressions of the more-brave riders once they're in the tube. Colossal Curl and several other slides are packed together in this space. A look at the super steep drops pf Vanish Point. And it keeps dropping! Time to head in for myself... Another look at the two SkyBOXes from Proslide! There's even a glass slit where you can look ahead in the direction you'll be dropping once inside. A beautiful, twisted collection of water slides! A look at Colossal Curl... Special thanks to Adventure Island for hosting us today! Come down to check out this weekend as the water park opens for the season.

Yeah, the video definitely isn't doing the ride's original appeal any favors... Here's hoping like Elissa said that this is more a proof of concept from the manufacturer and the ride system will be better utilized in a future installation.

I'd be curious to see if this ride design catches on anywhere else... Seems like a really neat way to add a "coaster-esque" experience to parks on a budget like Fun Spot or Family Entertainment Centers.

I’m in!